News stories tagged with "essex-county"

(02/10/12) NCPR kicked off election coverage with a series of stories this week. See below for more on the 23rd district race for the House of Representatives.

Politics are everywhere these days, from the bitter Republican primary fight that's playing out on our TV screens to the redistricting battle in Albany that could shake up politics right here in our own backyard. As 2012 goes on, the news and conversation will only get louder and more intense.

Most high school students can't vote, but politics plays a big role in their lives, too. And they're paying attention, at least the teens are who gathered recently in Peru to talk about government and politics. Our correspondent Sarah Harris sends this report. more

(01/20/12) The state Supreme Court Appellate Division is a step closer to ruling on a case involving a Lake Placid family targeted for building a pair of boathouses without permits from the town of North Elba.

Attorneys for the town, the Grimditch family and a pair of neighboring property owners appeared in Albany last week before a panel of five judges. Chris Morris reports. more

(12/29/11) An attempt by one Essex County lawmaker to save 10 positions eliminated in the adopted 2012 budget failed narrowly earlier this week. According to County Manager Dan Palmer, Chesterfield Supervisor Gerald Morrow moved to have the jobs restored. more

(12/14/11) It took a lot of coffee and more than a little frustration, but Essex County lawmakers finally passed the 2012 budget on Monday. Lawmakers debated the spending plan for close to four hours during a special meeting called by Chairman Randy Douglas of Jay.

The budget carries a tax levy increase of slightly more than 10 percent and eliminates 10 positions. As Chris Morris reports, some town leaders say those job cuts will hurt their local economies. more

(12/07/11) It was standing room only in the Essex County Courthouse in Elizabethtown Monday night as nearly 150 people turned out for a hearing on the tentative 2012 county budget.

Twenty-three people spoke during the hearing, which lasted more than two hours. Not one person asked for additional cuts to a spending plan that proposed to increase the tax levy by 4.3 percent and lay off 30 county employees.

And as Chris Morris reports, every speaker called for the board to restore funding for contract agencies and do what they could to avoid job cuts, a move that would increase next year's tax levy. more

(11/28/11) The forecast calls for a few more days of warmer than usual weather. But December is just around the corner, and parts of the North Country have already had their first foot of heavy snow. Cornell Cooperative Extension horticulturist Amy Ivy shares a list of very mast minute things to do in the yard before winter really sets in.

(11/07/11) Budget season is heating up for town and county governments, and in Essex County that could mean some big changes.

A pair of popular county-run services - the Horace Nye Nursing Home and the fish hatchery - could be cut loose as lawmakers look to present a budget that meets the state's new 2 percent property tax cap.

Supervisors are also considering layoffs, after a key union that represents 450 workers declined to renegotiate the final year of its contract. more

(10/26/11) Next month, voters will go to the polls across northern New York and Vermont. There any statewide or national candidates on the ballot, but scores of vitally important local races will be decided.

Essex County has a particularly fierce set of campaigns, with the long-time county clerk facing a stiff challenge, and at least two town supervisors scrambling to keep their seats. Brian Mann sat down to talk about those races with Lohr McKinstry, the veteran reporter with the Plattsburgh Press-Republican.

(10/07/11) A special prosecutor is looking into whether Essex County's clerk and some of his employees showed favor when they awarded a contract for document scanning.

But discussion about the investigation during a board of supervisors meeting this week prompted complaints that the matter is being politicized in an attempt to hurt Clerk Joe Provoncha's re-election bid.

Chris Morris reports more

(09/13/11) Flooding triggered by Tropical Storm Irene may force Essex County to borrow money to make it through the end of this year. Jay Supervisor Randy Douglas chairs the Essex County Board of Supervisors.

Douglas said he couldn't put a dollar figure on the total damages to county infrastructure. But he said individual projects relating to Irene will cost towns in the county hundreds of thousands of dollars. more